


Ten steps to an imperfect date

by Aurora_Whisperwind



Category: Bleach
Genre: Cotton Candy Fluff, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-15
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2018-01-08 20:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1136805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurora_Whisperwind/pseuds/Aurora_Whisperwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rukia is determined to have a perfect date with Ichigo. Will things turn out the way she planned them to be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten steps to an imperfect date

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Valentine's day challenge for the IchiRuki FC at Bleach Asylum eons back. Unbeta-ed, so may have grammatical and other errors as English is not my native language.

He had noticed that she had been acting really strange for the past couple of days but this _was_ bizarre. The small, dark-haired girl who was now living under his roof had cornered him in his room while he was changing, ten minutes after they had come back from school. Dressed in a strange white thing that was a cross between a one-piece and a night dress, the petite Shinigami stopped a few feet away from him and just looked up into his eyes. Arms frozen in the sleeves of his purple t-shirt, Ichigo watched her cautiously. Normally he'd have yelled at her for barging into his room unannounced, but the look in her clear blue eyes had stopped him. They, unmistakably, had the fire of battle.

"Ichigo" she announced after a pause "I want you to do something for me." He watched her for a second more, and then snarled (a little less sharply than usual) "What?" In reply, she merely smoothed out a newspaper clipping that was folded up in her hand and showed it to him. It was an advertisement for the somewhat new multiplexed mall that had opened with great fanfare about six moths ago. "What about it?" he asked, turning it over in his large hands "You want to go here or something?" To his surprise she smiled, and then said in her high, theatrically false voice "Oh will you? How about this Tuesday? That would be lovely!" And with that she marched out of the room, leaving him gaping like a goldfish at her, arms still halfway in the sleeves. _That would be lovely?_

***

Tuesday morning arrived and Ichigo had all but forgotten about their 'date' until impatient banging on his door at eight in the morning roused him from sleep. Cursing, he threw a glance at the alarm clock and panicked- why hadn't it rung? He was going to be incredibly late for school! The banging continued while he started to struggle out of his clothes into the school uniform, shower be damned. "Get up, Ichigo!" Rukia shouted, now positively tearing down his door. By now irate, he opened it so violently it nearly broke. "What the hell do you want? Why didn't you wake me and what are you still doing here? We're late!" he growled at her. She frowned for a second, then seemed to recollect something and relaxed her face into an impassive mask. This threw him, and he stopped spluttering with rage to really _look_ at her. He noted that she was dressed in a pale green skirt with a white stringy top and a matching jacket. Her hair was pulled back with small white rabbit clips and there was a simple bracelet on her right hand, with a little pearl-like thing on it. She had on small, delicate earrings and a simple necklace with a tiny pendant. On top of all that, she had a fluffy purse and white, low heeled shoes. He gaped, mentally trying to recall the last time she had dressed up so elaborately and drew a blank.

"Why are you not ready yet?" she asked, pushing past him. Without waiting for his reply, she opened his closet and scanned his clothes quickly before reaching deep into it, and picking out his least-favourite (and therefore least worn) lime-green t-shirt and black jeans. "Here" she threw the clothes at him "have a shower and dress, and quickly" she snapped, before burrowing into his closet again, apparently looking for something else.

"Look, we can't skip school and go- I told you I'd take you to that silly mall, but-"

"You said we'd go today"

"I didn't, you just put words in my mouth" He said, reaching for the clothes she'd taken out and attempting to put them back.

"But I've already asked your father and he agreed!"

"Of course he will, he's never had much sense-"

"Ichigo-" she cut him off in a soft voice, but firmly all the same "I'll be waiting downstairs"

He wanted to protest, but found that words had apparently died in his throat.

When he walked into his room again, showered and dressed, he found it empty. His wallet was laid helpfully on the unmade bed, along with his watch, cellphone and a comb. He combed his hair, unsuccessfully tried to make it lie flat, and went stomping downstairs. She was waiting at the table as he descended, steaming hot breakfast on two plates. He stopped and scowled again, recollecting that he was apparently skipping school. In the last few years, he had not missed a single day, not even when he was unwell. He'd not wanted to skip school to stay home alone, remembering all those times his mother had been there to nurse him, feed him, smile at him and talk to him.

"Did you make this? Where is everyone?" he asked her dubiously, not trusting her culinary skills much.

After a small, discomfited pause, she shook her head and muttered into her plate "Yuzu did. She and Karin just left for school"

"Eat" she said, looking up at him. He sat down abruptly; seriously disturbed now as he had no clue what the hell was wrong with her. Deciding to avoid further queries as they were clearly not helping him understand the situation any better, he drew his plate closer to him. They ate in silence.

***

She was gazing up at the sky with a frown by the time he locked up the house and put on his jacket. It was an especially gloomy day, and he wondered vaguely if he should go back for an umbrella. Deciding against it he set off, Rukia stuffing a wad of paper into her purse as she fell into place beside him. The place was not too far off, but it was a long walk to the bus stop. A long silent walk.

Normally this would not have made any difference to Ichigo. Rukia was one of the few people in his life with whom he felt truly comfortable with- he could spend hours with her without feeling the necessity to utter a single word. But today, the atmosphere was a little stifling, maybe because she seemed edgy and restless, and had been glancing at him with growing irritation for the last twenty minutes.

Finally he put his foot down. "Stop staring and spit it out will you!"

She scowled deeply and mumbled a small "How do I look?"

He stopped walking and stared at her, about to laugh, when the look in her eyes stopped him. It was an interesting look- something a scientist gives a wriggling specimen he's about to dissect. There was a long pause as he tried to think of the right thing to say while she continued to stare at him with that funny look.

Finally, he shrugged "Okay, I guess..."

She nodded curtly and walked off, making a small note on the paper which she pulled out of her purse.

*** 

Ichigo was almost glad when they walked in along with a multitude of other people, mostly couples. ' _It was odd that the place should be this crowded on a weekday morning'_  he wondered as he surveyed the movie listings. Rukia did not give him much of a chance though, declaring to him "This one. I want to see this" and jabbing her finger at the big poster that said 'Whisper of the heart'. It looked like one of those typical, mindless romance movies that involved a plain girl lusting after the most desirable guy in school/college/at work, trying to attract his attention, failing and then some miraculous happenings bringing them together. It would be a dead bore, but he bought the tickets anyway.

"We have an hour before the start of this one" he said, putting the change along with the tickets in his wallet and slipping it into his pocket.

"Let's look around" she suggested.

Having no better idea, he agreed. ' _Awful lot of people'_   he mused again, as they strolled along at a leisurely pace until they reached the arcade, the only section practically deserted as it was a school day.

Rukia seemed to be looking for something specific though, and he had just started to ask her what before she spotted something and hauled him with superhuman strength to a claw vending machine. It was filled with fluffy toys.

"Win one for me, ne?" she recited in a falsely sweet voice.

He scowled at her, but paid an outrageous amount to the oily man standing next to the machine for a coin. Putting it in, he glanced at her and said "You do realize that most of these machines are set up so that it is near impossible to win", the remark earning him an expression of hot denial from the owner.

She ignored him and merely chirped "Good luck! Please win!!"

He didn't.

She was all for trying again, but there was no way he was wasting money on nonsense. He wasn't a stingy person, but his pocket money was limited and he fancied much better uses for it. Saying as much to her, he dragged her away to the more harmless parts of the multiplex where his wallet was less likely to be abused. There was nothing much else to do, and all the walking had made him thirsty so he left her briefly to get them both a drink. Handing one to her, he sat contentedly sipping his own until it was time for them to go in.

The movie was a disaster. It took him incredible effort to just keep his eyes open throughout. The story was crappier than he had imagined, the actors plastic and the music (if it could be called that) was just noise which prevented him to at least nap while the horrid thing was going on. By the time it was over, he was in a terrible mood. There were a lot of other things he could have done with the day, even staying at home curled up under the sheets would have been better. He was even madder when his stomach gave an insistent growl- more money wasted.

Cursing, he led Rukia to a thankfully empty table near the window of a serve-yourself food court and left her to get the cheapest things on the menu. When he returned with a woefully empty tray after standing for ages in a never ending queue, she was staring moodily out of the window at the pouring rain outside. Hearing him approach, she glanced at him- and then at the tray in his hands and glared "What _is_ that? It looks awful. I want to eat something else"

Something snapped inside him. It had been an absolutely wretched day- and it was all her damned fault. 

"It's not for you. And no, I'm not getting you anything" he snarled, while swallowing some insipid rubbish. He hated it all, the noise, the crowd, the kissing couples everywhere. He met her gaze with righteous anger burning in his, and for a minute they glared at each other in silence. Then the storm burst.

"Well it damn well is not MY fault, you idiot!" she said loudly "I tried to stick to all the steps of this stupid human ritual-"

He clapped his hand over her mouth hastily, she was beginning to attract attention. But she evidently did not care about what they thought. Shrugging his hand off, she continued "But you didn't do anything! I thought it would be a nice thing to do for you, but I really shouldn't have bothered knowing what a BIG idiot you are!!!" The conversation around them lulled, and Ichigo wished he could go hide somewhere, or sew her mouth shut. She did not stop "I wasted so much time planning this ridiculous thing and nothing has gone right! Forget it, I'm going home!!" she was struggling with her purse as she yelled, and finally managed to open it to reveal a small box tied ornately with a ribbon.

Then it struck him. _Valentine's day_. Of course, that's why there were so many people today. And why his dad had been out of sight. Further revelations were saved when she hit him, hard, with the box. She kicked her chair back as he blinked rapidly in pain.

"What the heck?" he snapped, trying to see with the eye that was not hit by a corner of the box "How the hell did you expect me to understand what you were doing? You were just acting weird! I did ask you what was wrong when we were coming here! All you did was ask me if you looked nice!!" The entire food court was silent now, as the crowd around watched them breathlessly.

She hit him again with the already mashed up box with stray bits of chocolate coming out "And you did not give the right answer! All you said was that I looked okay! (Ichigo heard the crowd gasp at this) I spent hours making this stupid chocolate and you... you weren't even trying! It's been raining for hours as well!!!" she concluded and stormed off, as Ichigo sat there dazed and wondering what in the name of heaven the weather had to do with Valentine's day.

Smarting with pain, and conscious that everyone's attention was on him, he got up to leave as well, and decided to take the poor abused box with him. Her purse was lying next to it, and he grabbed it unthinkingly. How was he to remember that today was Valentine's day? It was not like he was one of the super-popular guys in school, who girls would line up to give chocolate to. He had never really bothered or cared either. But trust the stupid girl to misinterpret and misunderstand human traditions.

_'You weren't even trying!'_ The accusation kept repeating in his head. 

***

It was after he came out that he realized that neither of them had an umbrella. He didn't even know if she had money. He opened her purse to see if she had left her phone behind, and sure enough, there it was with a wad of paper and a pen. He was about to run into the rain after her, but stopped. Hadn't he seen this sheet in her hands in the morning? He smoothed it out. In big scraggly letters, the words 'Valentine's Day/ 10 steps to The Perfect date' was written in handwriting that looked awfully like Urahara's. There were some horrible bunnies, masquerading as cupids with wings decorating the sides. Under the title, there was what looked like a checklist, with a big red cross near each point.

1\. He asks you out to a place you've never been to and having been looking forward to go to.

2\. When you two meet on the day, he'll look at you admiringly and tell you how amazing you look.

3\. He'll hold your hand (almost) all day.

4\. When you get there, he lets you pick what you want to do and looks happy about it. (There was a half tick mark which was crossed out next to this one)

5\. You enjoy yourself thoroughly, talk, laugh and have fun. (There was a question mark here)

6\. He wins/gets you anything you ask for, and then says "It was all because of you"

7\. You have a nice lunch/dinner with lots of dessert.

8\. After that, he takes your hands in his and thanks you for a lovely time.

9\. You give him your chocolates and he accepts them gratefully, with a happy smile.

The next point was cut off, written again, then cut off again. He frowned as he read through the paper. Making a sudden decision, he stuffed it into his pocket and sprinted off into the rain. She was nowhere in sight. Probably already got into the bus, he wondered as he bought a ticket and got into the next one. It was not like he did not feel _anything_ for her. How could he not, after all they had gone through? But he was never big on the special days thing anyway.  

He spotted the tiny figure walking in the pouring rain when he got off fifteen minutes later. "Rukia!" He shouted after her and ran when she didn't turn around. He caught up with her in a minute, grabbed her arm and whirled her roughly to face him. "You big idiot" he snapped before bending down and kissing her. She responded briefly before pushing him away and violently kicking his knees so that he collapsed on his back. Hissing with pain, he sat up and looked up at her.

The expression in her eyes was unreadable as she whispered "Idiot.."

_It took you long enough._

He smirked, grabbed her hands in his and pulled her to him. "One thing on your list went right _ne_?" She looked startled for a second, looking for her missing purse before reddening and kicking him. He had barely enough time to wince in pain as she threw her arms around him. Surprised at her sudden turnaround, he held her close, slowly running his fingers through her wet hair. It was not how he expected his first kiss to be, sitting in a puddle on the road. After a long silence, Ichigo withdrew, still holding her loosely with one arm, and looked into her eyes. "I've always hated it you know" he said, and gestured around them with his free hand "the rain"

"I know" she replied simply "I hate the rain too" After a moments pause, she leaned into him and continued "And I'm sick of hating it"

He held her gaze for a moment, then kissed her again as a wave of emotion threatened to carry him off. After what seemed like eternity, but it could have been a minute, he broke the kiss and whispered "Thank you"

_For a wonderful memory in the rain._

"Mmmm" she replied, her breathing slightly ragged.

"The chocolate was nice" he said, "It's a pity they were ruined"

She took a long time to answer "I made another batch"

He drew back and smiled at her "Let's go home then"

10\. Lastly, when the sun is setting around you a blaze of color, he declares he loves you and kisses you passionately.


End file.
